Chapter 435 - Invitation (1/2)
“The young miss is back! The young miss is back!” When Yingchun got the news, she happily went back to the young miss’s courtyard, chirping like a cheerful bird. She ran all the way from the drooping flower gate and had a sunny smile on her face.
Wutong walked out from inside and had a stern look on her face. She hollered at Yingchun, “What are you being noisy about? No sense of etiquette! The young miss was only gone for a few days yet all of you flout the rules and etiquette! As a servant, having good etiquette and manners brings prestige to our young miss. It’s no wonder that the young miss doesn’t bring someone like you, who has her head in the clouds, out when she leaves!”
The giddiness within Yingchun’s heart was extinguished as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on her. Her cheerful steps stopped and the smile on her face slowly disappeared. Wutong was the personal maidservant of the young miss and was one of the earliest people to follow her. No one knew when she had become the maid in charge of the entire courtyard, but she was now in charge of all of the maids and senior servants in the young miss’s residence.
At first, Wutong treated the other maids amiably. However, once the young miss promoted Xichun and Hechun to fill the empty positions within the personal maidservants, Wutong changed. She became moody and prone to anger. Sometimes, the eyes she used to look at other people seemed as if they had daggers coming out of them. It always made the other maids feel a bit scared.
All of the maids and senior servants in the courtyard knew that the young miss didn’t have a lot of rules and regulations. As long as you did your work well, she was satisfied. The lower ranked maids all secretly whispered that they felt more relaxed in the presence of the young miss as they didn't have to guard their every action. Even small mistakes were waved away by her with a smile. However, in Wutong’s hands, if she wasn’t in a good mood, you might be punished lightly with a fine or heavily by getting beaten with the plank.
Ever since the young miss went back to Tanggu with Hechun and had given the management of the Imperial Plantation’s greenhouses to Xichun, Wutong had been in a bad mood. She and Pipa had been left behind to manage the courtyard again. Everyday, she roamed around the courtyard looking for victims so she could vent her discontent. The smallest mistakes would be picked out by her and used to torture the other maids. All of the maids in the courtyard didn’t dare to say anything out loud but they cried out their grievances in secret. They were all looking forward to when the young miss got back from Tanggu because Wutong would restrain herself a lot more when the young miss was around.
Yingchun wasn’t as lucky as Xichun and Hechun as she didn’t catch the eye of her mistress to get promoted to a first-ranked maid. She naturally didn’t dare to have an outright conflict with Wutong, so she suppressed the displeasure within her heart. Instead, when Wutong was not looking, she made a funny face at the other girl’s back as she viciously thought, ‘You’re such a two-faced person, so it’d be surprising if the master trusted you! Serves you right that the young miss left you behind to only guard a courtyard that is the size of three mu ah!’
Yu Xiaocao had just entered the inner courtyard when a group of maids surrounded her and escorted her to her own courtyard. As they walked, she asked if anything important happened recently. Wutong had a face full of smiles and had rushed in front of Pipa to take the lead. She gently smiled and said, “Ever since the fall harvest, you have become a well-known figure throughout the capital, Young Miss. Especially once the green vegetables grown in the pavilions came to market. Everyone in the capital knows that you’re able to cultivate fruits and vegetables out of season and that you can make anything become ripe during any time of the year. While you were out and about, many young maidens from good families had sent invitations to you to attend some banquets and such. If you hadn’t just left for Tanggu, I’m pretty sure you’d be very busy right now!”
Yingchun surreptitiously curled her lip. Wutong was such a two-faced person. Earlier she had been as vicious as a female wolf when scolding her but now she was pretending to be as sweet and innocent as a white bunny rabbit. The smile on Wutong’s face was so flattering.
“Pick only the important things to tell me!” Yu Xiaocao was not the least bit interested in interacting with these young maidens in the capital. These girls either started spouting poetry as if they were ill or had to show off their other skills in some fashion. She wasn’t good at any of this stuff. All of those people sending her invitations to parties and banquets likely wanted to see her stumble in these social settings so they could laugh at her, right? Consequently, even when she was in the capital, she had no desire to attend any of those boring parties.
Wutong’s eyes flickered and she smiled, “The best modiste in the capital, Jiang Siniang, who is also the owner of Exquisite Garments, also sent an invitation asking to see you. Young Miss, are you interested in meeting her?”
Many years ago in the capital, Jiang Siniang had endured lots of criticism from naysayers similar to Xiaocao. However, she used her own abilities to suppress all of these people. Her Exquisite Garments boutique not only became famous in the capital but she also opened several branch stores in the nearby prefectures. The stores did very well with the public and was in no way inferior to the popularity of Zhenxiu Restaurant and the Yu’s Braised Food Shops and Fruit Shops.
The clothing that Jiang Siniang designed was not only bold in their usage of color but they also harmonized very well. Even bright reds and greens, when used together, could become an impeccable work of elegant art in her hands. Furthermore, all of her clothing was beautiful and flattering to the female form. People often offered grand sums of money to have one of her stores make a piece of clothing for them. All of the ladies and maidens in the capital desperately wanted to have a piece of clothing personally made by Jiang Siniang. It would allow them to have immense status and boasting power in their circles.
Unfortunately, for the past few years, Jiang Siniang only took five custom orders each season. Furthermore, not just anyone could be lucky enough to get a custom order slot. From her words, it all depended on fate. Those who caught her eye, even if they didn't have a single penny, she was still willing to design and sew a custom piece of clothing for them. Those who didn’t, even if they offered a thousand taels of gold, she would still refuse to make one for them. Even the imperial concubines in the imperial palace had to comply with her rules. After all, the emperor himself had given her a handwritten document personally written by him that stated ‘the epitome of a talented woman’!
In Wutong’s eyes, the fact that such an incredible woman, who had legendary designing and crafting skills, wanted to see the young miss was an incredible honor! If those other young maidens in the capital found out, then wouldn’t they be incredibly jealous? In fact, even the lady of the residence didn't have a custom crafted piece of clothing from Jiang Siniang.
Jiang Siniang? Yu Xiaocao paused in her motion of taking off her cloak. Was that the Jiang maiden who had refused an offer of marriage from the son of the prime minister on the grounds that she wanted to focus on her career? The two of them had never interacted before, so why would she want to see her suddenly?
“Also, Royal Princess Minglan is hosting a ‘flower war banquet’ in the middle of this month and sent you an invitation to you. Do you want to see if…” The other young maidens were one thing but Royal Princess Minglan was the treasure of her family. She was actually paternal cousins with Royal Prince Yang.